Homecoming 2018 - Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus
/If you’re in the resident congregation, turn off your electronic devices and put them away…they are not welcome. Let this be a place where you aren’t distracted by the world.\
/Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher\
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference worldwide courtesy of the internet. Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference locally in the Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler, AZ communities. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we teach the Word of God from God’s perspective, not from man’s perspective.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus\
Hebrews, Chapter 12, Verses 1 to 3…
/HEBREWS 12:1b …let us believers in Christ run with endurance the race marked out for us by God and set before us…\
/HEBREWS 12:2 …fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of this path of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God the Father.\
As believers in Christ we are to keep our eyes on the prize. The prize is Jesus Christ. His Person and His thinking are so central to everything we do as believers in Christ. His thinking…especially…is central to a life beyond our wildest dreams. Do you want such a life? Do you want a life beyond your wildest dreams?
/HEBREWS 12:3 For keep on thinking about such a person, Jesus Christ, who has endured such hostility by sinners (unbelievers) against Himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in your souls.\
The path to a life beyond our wildest dreams is filled with twists and turns and tribulation. What we can count on, as believers in Christ is that Satan, the enemy of God, and his kingdom of death will oppose everything we do. Yet the thinking that Jesus inculcates into us, as He transfers His mind into ours, is designed to encourage us. What we can count on when we think like Jesus is that no matter what the trial, we can face it with a peace that surpasses comprehension.
Welcome to a place where you can learn the mind of Christ and then use it as you climb the ladder of this life, enjoying the victory you have in union with Christ.
Jesus loves you with an unconditional love…a love that is completely inexpressible. Yet no words need be said in the face of a love this magnificent. Song captures the feeling of this love, because music penetrates down to the very joints and marrow of our souls.
There is no one I know whose music is more penetrating than June Murphy’s. Let’s hear June sing a song she wrote, one of my favorites…I AM BEAUTIFUL…a song that lets us know how God feels about His creatures and how His creatures must learn to feel about themselves.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
I AM BEAUTIFUL June Murphy\
/OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...\
Almighty God and Father…thank you for the ability to think…quite often our thinking is impaired because our enemy encourages us to sin…and sin clouds the mind…thank you for being trustworthy, because when our minds are clouded we forget to trust You…we run on emotions, and they have no thinking power…thank you for enlightening the eyes of our souls so we can see God’s enemy, Satan, at work as he encourages us not to think straight so we can’t do what You have laid out for us to do…
…Father, destroy every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of You and Your Son, Jesus, and help us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…help us to separate lies from the truth…and help us to reject with prejudice every encouragement that lures us into sinful things that make us hopeless and desperate…instead, help us to stay close to You, and like wise sheep to recognize and obey Your voice…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name... Amen.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus\
Pastor John Farley and I have taken on the pleasurable task of telling you about our friend Jesus. We’ll welcome up Pastor Farley in just a bit to continue his look at The Biblical Jesus. Today it’s my turn to get us started by continuing my look at The Personal Jesus.
As I mentioned to you last night, first and foremost, Jesus Christ is my friend.
Do you, as a believer in Christ, see Jesus Christ that way?
Is Jesus your friend?
I have an eternal relationship with Him. I am married to Him. He is the only Person who has known me forever. He knows everything about me. He knows more about me than I know about myself. He created me. We are close. I depend on Him. He edifies me, as all good friends do. I can’t get enough of Him. He fills me. He doesn’t think I’m inferior. He is a loyal and faithful friend. He is on my side. He has surrounded me in a sphere of love, and grace and forgiveness and acceptance. When I make the big mistakes, He puts me out in front, as the broken one, for the whole world to see. Our relationship is deep and intimate and personal.
Second, Jesus is the primary influence in my life.
Jesus is my rudder. On a boat, the rudder guides the boat’s course. It is sets the direction of the boat. Jesus is the One who guides me, and He does it by influencing my thinking.
As a child I had a divine rudder and a human rudder. Jesus was my divine rudder. My mother, Dorothy, was my human rudder. God put her in my life to guide me.
From an early age I chose to be focused, so I didn’t allow a lot of voices in my head. There was the divine voice and the human voice, and I listened to and trusted no one else. Theses two voices were one. They were saying the same thing. They were encouraging me to become my best self.
One of my favorite songs is by Casting Crowns…The Voice of Truth…and the words to the song highlight my approach to life.
/VOICE OF TRUTH
Oh what I would do to have The kind of faith it takes To climb out of this boat I’m in Onto the crashing waves\
/VOICE OF TRUTH
To step out of my comfort zone Into the realm of the unknown Where Jesus is And He’s holding out His hand\
/VOICE OF TRUTH
But the waves are calling out my name And they laugh at me Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed\
/VOICE OF TRUTH
The waves they keep on telling me Time and time again “Boy, you'll never win!” “You'll never win!”\
/VOICE OF TRUTH
But the voice of truth Tells me a different story The voice of truth says… “Do not be afraid!”\
/VOICE OF TRUTH
The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory…” Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen And believe the voice of truth\
One of the most important lessons my mother taught is that it matters who you listen to…it matters who your friends are…it matters with whom you surround yourself…it matter whom you allow to influence you.
I was not allowed to play with the kids in my neighborhood. I grew up in the “hood” … in the ghetto on Chicago’s south side…so my third rudder and friend was television. Shows like Password, Jeopardy, Concentration, The Match Game, and The Price is Right shaped my thoughts. They taught me how to think. Sports shaped my thoughts. They taught me how to compete. They gave me the desire to win. Then as I got older, Jesus and His Word began to shape my thoughts, and that’s when my life started to take off.
If you ask me the difference between my siblings and I, it was the rudder. Their lives went adrift and crashed into the rocks. They had the same rudders available that I had, but they chose to go their own way and to listen to their own voices. You see it’s not enough just to have the voice of Jesus available…we actually have to listen to Him and obey His direction. Taking His direction actually has to show up in every single choice we make. Obeying Jesus. That’s what makes life amazing for us. I listened to Him. My siblings didn’t. That has made all the difference.
Conversely, we must tune out the voice of God’s enemy, Satan. I can look back on my life and see every human being that God put in my life to keep me on His path. I can also see the multitude of voices Satan sent at me… noisy gongs and clanging symbols…encouraging me to get off God’s path…encouraging me to quit…insisting I could never win…most of them those closest to me…the people I valued most. What a disconcerting experience to have the people who claim to love you leading you astray… not being on your side…being out to hurt you…like crabs in a barrel…not wanting to go anywhere…but not wanting you to go anywhere either… constantly pulling you back into the barrel.
Fear was the driving motivation of my childhood. My greatest was the fear of being mediocre…the fear of being weak…I just could not bear the thought of staying in the rut that was the life my family had chosen. Saying that it was fear that drove me might not be expressing a strong enough emotion. Perhaps it was absolute terror.
Jesus encouraged me to love. First John, Chapter 4, Verse 18…
/FIRST JOHN 4:18 There is no fear in unconditional love…but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in unconditional love.\
It was hard to give up fear as a driving force, but because of my friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ I was able to stop depending on me and to start depending on Him. Jesus Christ is the primary influence in my life.
I can see his influence in so many ways. Recently I had a health scare. It’s the kind of health scare that has you thinking of your own mortality. When I saw the symptoms, I sat down to pray, but the prayer was much different than you might think. When we are scared we are about to face a health trauma, perhaps death, many bargain with God. “Lord, if you just let me get through this, I promise I’ll be good.” There was no such request from me. My conversation with my friend was much different.
I told Him…“Lord, I’m not asking you for a single thing. I know that this trial is something you have approved. And when the testing is over, if the verdict is the worst, I accept it. You have been more than fair with me my whole life…you have been good to me my whole life…and placing my fate in your hands is no problem for me. If I meet you now, or if I meet you later…I will be meeting you…and that is more important to me than any possession…its more important than good health…its more important than any other relationship…I am relaxed with my fate completely in your hands.
There’s only one way to be that calm about a serious health trial…it’s when you have a best friend who has influenced your thinking so well that you can be content regardless of circumstances. Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 13…
/PHILIPPIANS 4:13 I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.\
Who is your rudder? What voice are you listening to? What voices are you tuning out? Are you obedient or rebellious toward Jesus’ direction? All great things on which to meditate...and more, great things to discuss at our ask the Pastor conversation in the park.
Well after this song...we’ll take a quick music break, and then we’ll welcome up Pastor John Farley.
As believers in Christ, we are children of God. And God wants us. Here’s June Murphy to sing about it in her song, FATHER I’M YOURS.
/MUSIC BREAK FATHER I’M YOURS June Murphy \
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON Jesus: The Biblical Jesus and The Personal Jesus\
Welcome back! Let’s welcome up Pastor John Farley.
/GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life\
The closing moments of our study are for anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU.
What is going to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life? Is there an “afterlife?” And if there is an afterlife, how can you get to heaven?
Many people have beliefs about God. A belief is an opinion…a conviction…a confidence in the existence of something that does not seem provable. Satan, the enemy of God, prefers we have beliefs because there is a big difference between a belief and the truth. Only when your beliefs and the truth are the same is it significant. Satan hates the truth. He can’t handle the truth. He loves beliefs.
So what isgoing to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life? Is there an “afterlife?” And if there is, how can you get to heaven?
Many people believe they can earn their way into heaven by doing good deeds. They give money to beggars…they give food to the homeless…they are actively involved in community projects…they generously donate their time, talent, and treasure to charitable organizations…they “give back”… you’ve heard people use that term countless times. People who “give back” usually are convinced they are better than most people. They think they are so good, that after they die God will reward them by letting them into heaven for their good deeds.
Unfortunately, in the bible they find a completely different story. Titus, Chapter 3, Verse 5…
/TITUS 3:5 The Lord Jesus Christ saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in self-righteousness, but according to His mercy…by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing by God the Holy Spirit…\
Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8 and 9…
/EPHESIANS 2:8 For by God’s grace you have been saved through faith (in Christ for salvation)…and the grace and the faith and the salvation is not from the source of yourselves…it is the gift of God….\
/EPHESIANS 2:9 …therefore, being saved is not as a result of works (deeds you have done in self-righteousness)…so that no one may boast (about saving himself).\
One thing you would never want to do is to put the burden of your salvation on your own back. So how do you get to heaven? There’s only one way to get to heaven…the Lord Jesus Christ Himself tells us in John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…
/JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”\
When we choose to believe that Jesus Christ is God, it is much more than a belief…it is the absolute truth. So how do you get to heaven when you close your eyes in this life? Romans, Chapter 10, Verses 9 and 10…
/ROMANS 10:9 …if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (that He is God)…and if you believe in your heart that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead… you will be saved…\
/ROMANS 10:10 …for with the heart a person believes…resulting in the imputation of absolute righteousness (your admission ticket to heaven)…and with the mouth a person confesses (admitting faith in Christ alone)…resulting in salvation.\
Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
/ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”\
But heed the warning of John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…
/JOHN 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”\
John, Chapter 3, Verse 17…
/JOHN 3:17 For God the Father did not send God the Son into the world to judge the world…but the Father sent the Son into the world that the world might be saved through Him.\
Take the free gift of eternal life right now! There’s no time to waste! God wants you! Here’s June Murphy to invite you to a “so great salvation” with her song…CALLING YOU TO FREEDOM.
/CLOSING SONG CALLING YOU TO FREEDOM June Murphy\
/CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...\
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
/Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening! www.barahministries.com\
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